This is not new, but stumbled upon it again a couple of days ago and got me thinking about learning in the professional world. And I thought of sharing those thoughts, as I deeply care about the subject.
On the one hand, it depicts reality.
However, we are missing something when teachers need to "trick" people into learning by finding the magic 10-second intro to capture their attention; when employees cannot focus and allow themselves to be distracted; when companies cannot carve more than 25 minutes per week for learning (and people being fine with that).
The ability of people to learn has been glorified, but it seems that this is more wishful thinking than reality. There seems to be a silent agreement that real, dedicated learning is over when we finish our college or graduate studies. Everything you do from then on, do it fast and don't bother much. Once someone is employed, learning is something like a burden, not part of their job. So, from age 5 to 25 learning is fine; but for the next 40-50 years of our lives, it is something you have to endure, something that seems somehow irrelevant.
I can't imagine any parents advising their kids to only spend 5 minutes per day on learning, nor a professor believing they could have an impact if students devoted only 25 minutes per week for teaching, reading, and connecting. Somehow, though, the professional world has accepted this reality; and not only that: the learning industry also makes a big effort to help people learn with micro-learning and other methods that fit the daily 5-min window. It is fine they do because at least they offer a solution within this reality; however, everything works towards validating this reality, accepting it, and guess what: in 5 or 10 years maybe we will only spend 15 minutes per week on learning.
In this reality, it seems that informal, on-the-job learning (aka experience) is the only real, practical opportunity for someone to grow. However, although very useful, this kind of learning is slow, it depends on the circumstances, and it often perpetuates habits rather than refining abilities or building new ones.
Real, transformational learning that can have a meaningful impact needs time and effort. It is part of our work, not an extra-curricular activity. It is essential if we want to perform better, if we want to grow and mature in our lives. We need to reevaluate learning in the workplace, not by trying to find ways to deliver it faster, but by taking a step back, embedding it more into the job description as part of people's work, and allowing more time (not less) for people to learn.
